UM Shore Regional Health had a strong presence at the recent Ironman 70.3 Eagleman Triathlon, held June 12 in Dorchester County.

According to Cathy Weber, manager of the Emergency Department at UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester, 125 Ironman competitors were cared for in the UM Shore Regional Health trailer by emergency physicians Walter Atha, MD and Kevin Pearl, MD, a host of UM SMC at Dorchester and UM Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown nurses, and two patient care techs. The ED team worked in two shifts, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1-7 p.m.

Weber is quick to give credit to UM Shore Regional Health's Plant Operations, Materials Management and Pharmacy departments for making the on-site care possible. "They had to get the trailer down here and load up and bring all the medications, supplies and equipment -- wheelchairs, IV poles, bandages -- everything we would need to treat people with illness or injuries on site," she says. "Then, at the end of the day, they had to load up and take it all back."

Most of the care provided was for skin scrapes, muscle aches, dehydration and exhaustion, vomiting, high fevers and so forth. "We got busier as the day wore on and the race progressed,” says Weber. “It was really hot -- over 90 degrees -- and we did have to send 15 racers to the Emergency Department, but we accomplished a lot of preventive care on site. I think that if we had not been there, the ED would have had many more cases coming in."